#The biggest problem I’ve had with the books and the show trying to push Clary as a leader is that she is just not believable.

[theravennest]

Luke and Alec in 2.14

I’ve always wanted more of this relationship since they gave me hints all through the end of S1. For example, when Luke calls Alec over the Forsaken attack or how it was Luke and Alec who tracked rogue Jace, who had lost his mind over Valentine.

There were two things I really loved about Alec and Luke last episode: 

How Luke was allowed to express his emotions over Valentine and the Clave.

How Alec understood that and still talked to Luke with grace and respect even when he disagreed with him.

I loved seeing Luke be so angry and frustrated, just allowed to feel emotions over a situation not having to do with Clary. We rarely ever see him just be allowed to have feelings outside of Clary. He always just...subsumes his desires and motivations in order to do what he thinks is best for her. It’s understandable for him as a father but it’s frustrating to watch as someone who cares about Luke as an individual. 

Valentine has hurt Luke over and over and over: trying to get Luke killed by werewolves, repeatedly trying to kill him because he’s a werewolf, killing dozens of his pack, getting Jocelyn killed, trying to hurt his daughter, actually hurting his sister...like, it is never ending. Luke has every right to go for his revenge and stop this menace from ever hurting other people again.

With that in mind, I also loved that Alec never tried to steamroll Luke even though he didn’t agree with Luke’s methods. He gets why Luke is pissed off. He gets why Luke is dissatisfied with how things have been happening with the Clave for the last 20 years. Yet I never once felt like Alec would ever, oh I don’t know, taser Luke in the back because he wanted to do a different plan or had a different opinion.

When Luke said he didn’t want to join the Cabinet because it felt futile, Alec listened to him then presented a valid counter argument that showed why the Cabinet meetings were important for the NY community even if the Clave wouldn’t listen. Luke changed his mind because Alec had a point and he showed his deep respect for the werewolf clans in general and Luke as a Clan Alpha in particular.

Later, when Alec caught Luke trying to kill Valentine, he wasn’t angry that Luke was enraged or that he tried to kill Valentine, he just wanted Luke to go about it a different way, a diplomatic way. Because it was reckless and a massive security risk; if Luke had lost that fight, Valentine would’ve been loose in the Institute with no one the wiser. Or if Luke had won the fight, Luke could’ve been at risk for being arrested by the Clave, which no one wants.

I still love that Luke did it though. The show really needed to showcase Luke and his internal self more, This episode did that beautifully. Because Luke is also right: the longer Valentine is alive, the more likely it is he’ll hurt more people. That said, I don’t want Valentine dead at the expense of Luke so while I’m glad Luke was allowed to go on a vengeance quest, I’m equally as glad Alec was able to stop him before the Clave got wind of it.

And I loved that Alec listened to Luke’s issues in the cell afterwards and explained why he stopped him. I loved that he showed Luke that he was frustrated with his attempt to kill Valentine because of all the damage it could have done to shadow world relations, but he did it in a way that didn’t feel like it as invalidating Luke’s own rightful anger or disrespecting him.

This episode was exploring Alec as a leader and as a diplomat. Not only that but Alec is also interacting with other leaders who are all more experienced than him, who are older than him, and who have all had much more negative experiences with the Clave and Valentine for far longer. Luke is at least 20-25 years older than Alec; Raphael is pushing something like 90; Meliorn, according to the books, has at least a century or two under his belt; Magnus is very much 400+ years old. All of them have survived decades of shadowhunter prejudice and oppression, including Valentine’s particular genocidal violence and abuse. 

Alec was able to approach them as equals in a way that engaged with their greater experiences but established himself as a leader as well. And it was completely believable. He was well established as a warrior in his own right, he has been training for diplomat work his whole life with his parents, he has a sharp desire to be a leader, we’ve gotten to watch him alter his own biases when confronted with opposing views, and we’ve seen him work through issues by opening dialog with others so he can talk about things that aren’t working. 

When Alec talks about wanting to effect change in shadowhunter society and with the Clave, I believe him and I believe that he will find a way to do it. At the very least his sincerity feels genuine. Even more, I understand why Luke and the others are willing to listen to him too. He’s able to present his goals and his arguments in a logical and respectful manner that shows exactly how much he values everyone else at the table with him.

It took him some time to figure out how to do that, and he made mistakes such as his choices with Meliorn’s interrogation or his initial compliance with the downworlder DNA testing. But he is shown learning from those mistakes, correcting his behavior, and making different choices. I believe that he is growing into someone I can respect, and subsequently I believe it when other characters respect him too.

Anyway, I just really loved watching Luke and Alec this episode because I really felt their scenes brought out some of the best characterization for each.

I can’t believe there are still people out there that don’t like that Alec is being characterized as a driven and capable leader on a path to higher levels of leadership. Or that so many people still ignore that Luke is a main character in the show and sleep on his potentially complex narrative. Like, Luke and Alec are two of the most interesting characters the show has to offer and people are seriously upset at their increased screen time and more focused character arcs? Can’t relate, forreal.

[yuzuka-rei]

my last hours: chain of gold review

its practically tradition for me, every time i finish a cassie claire book, i whip open my long abandoned tumblr and yell about characters. 

discussion is always welcome but if you’re like SUPER into this book don’t read this you’ll just get mad. also claire dont read this. 

my biggest problem with this book is that it doesn’t take enough risks, it sticks to a known successful formula (the infernal devices remains the best shadowhunters series) and what results is a book that is nostalgic, not bad, but not breaking any new ground. 

i’ll talk about what i liked first. i loved some of the storylines claire brought up in this book, BUT SHE BARELY EXPANDED ON ANY OF THEM.

you know what would’ve felt fresh and painful? charles fairchild. i want to read about Charles Fairchild, and his ambition, i want to read about his love for Alastair and how all he wishes is for his lover to just understand how much he *wants* to be consul. i want to read about his conflicted affection for Ariadne. i want to sympathise with HIM, because that would be so interesting, similar to what we had with jessamine, but with a man this time. we don’t have to like him, he just has to be interesting. 

what i’d also have loved would be more about lucie’s insecurity about being “the second herondale”. tbh, it would’ve been really interesting for her to have turned to the dark but this is a shadowhunters book the moral conflict always comes with the relationships, not the fantasy plot. but anyways what is the DEAL with “the beautiful cordelia” that is the fucking gayest thing i have ever laid eyes on in my entire life. also thats all lucie and cordelia’s relationship is based on, just the fact that lucie writes to cordelia, and it makes it feel so cheap because all cordelia does is think about james. lucie reminds me of dru, the forgotten younger sister, but because dru was not expanded on in tda i think it would’ve been fresh to read about lucie and her insecurity

also: matthew fairchild. right now he feels super repetitive, basically just will herondale again but this time he also fucks boys!! what a CHANGE. will shouldve been able to see his younger self in matthew and help him, so this makes minimal sense. even if we *have* to have this super repetitive plot element, i want to read about matthew and how he is different drunk and sober. i want to see him literally fail his friends and risk their lives, multiple times, because he is too drunk to do shit. i want to see him sober, suddenly so uncharming and pitiful. also i fucking want to see hints that he’s in love with cordelia. yes there are “hints”, but this “love” feels really cheap as well. basically so many of the relationships in cog feel super cheap because you’re supposed to believe that matthew falls in love with cordelia because of like three interactions. (although a parallel to this would be cristina and mark, who also didn’t have that much interaction before they fell in love, but mark was so broken and cristina is literally the sweetest, that made more sense. matthew and cordelia?? kinda a cheap play esp considering how will and jem were also parabatai) 

WRITE MORE ABOUT ALASTAIR. matthew seems way too put together and a “tragic romantic figure” in this book to make us Really see alastair as someone who should be hated. i want to HATE alastair but at the same time feel so much pity and pride for him. i know claire tried to make us dislike him but didnt work lol

oh i also loved the merry thieves i LOVE their friendship please give me more of that sweet sweet friendship juice. now this sort of marauders (im sorry im such a big marauders fan) brotherhood is something i haven’t seen from claire before and id love to read more about it

NOW I SCREAM ABOUT WHAT I DISLIKED

1, james fucking herondale. he is the most blandly and poorly written “male lead” in a claire book i’ve read for a long time. i’m all for reading about very stupid boys who are stupid about girls but the whole wild shift between grace and cordelia makes him seem like trash even with the bracelet influence. i disliked julian (i literally forgot his name and had to search it up), but julian’s fierce devotion to his family was interesting and grounded him. james is just ?? i guess he has the ability to go to the shadow realm?? like ngl i know nothing about his character and tbh i dont want to know more. 

2, cordelia. carstairs. who is basically if you scrambled clary and emma together and added a pinch of cristina. she’s not a BAD character, and since we’re supposed to see her as the “self insert” (i assume), her being a bit bland was probably intended. but this IS like... the fourth shadowhunter series. can we get a female character who is the hot troubled one instead?? i want HER to be the one with the tragic terrible secret, i want her to lash out and go drinking and push everyone away. cordelia in this book exists to love and protect james, and that makes her... even more boring than clary, who you know at least had her own strong agenda instead of this “oh i have to save my father wait hes a drunk” arc

3, matthew fairchild is basically just will herondale if he were less in love with his parabatai and more gay coded (oscar wilde?? waistcoats?? really???) . i wish he were written as a proper casanova, seen dating a different girl or boy every scene because then it would Hurt to see cordelia dismiss his feelings because of his behaviour. tbh i just,,, like matthew fairchild but hes so similar to will it hurts that his potential is being squandered.

4, this book just feels like tid but the side characters are like the tda ones. 

5, anna lightwood is basically magnus bane and i hate it but i love it

6, tbh most of the romances weren’t heart wrenching. cordelia having to marry james as an alibi was the only cool thing out of this book and even that was a bit odd. alastair being charles’ secret lover was Pretty out of the blue and that hurt but he literally left the relationship after one scene?? thats not realistic?? i want alastair to fall back into old habits, then try to leave again, then fall back again, then leave for Good. all of these romances are so whirlwild and mean so little, and they probably seem really cool to a 14 year old child but now they just feel... childish and stupid. TDA may have spoilt me for well built relationships, as much as i dislike emma and julian, their romance made SENSE. kit and ty? had feelings development. kieran and mark had their whole “we had to love each other to survive but now we don’t have to now what” struggle that was well laid out anyways. 

BASICALLY, THE CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK WERE WRITTEN TO BE IMMATURE, SHELTERED 17 YEAR OLDS AND IT’S UNSURPRISINGLY BORING TO READ 

also: if jesse blackthorn, a dear character in our hearts, showed love towards his mother, she would feel more three dimensional but alas sakjfh

[jcmorgenstern]

3x04

Okay I’m gonna try to put my thoughts in some semblance of order about this episode because they were largely negative but I think I can qualify and explain them somewhat. I think the biggest problem I’m running into here is the worldbuilding and certain really foundational flaws in how some aspects of the characters are written. (Readmore for length).

What they had with Jace’s mental health is a good start. I still do quibble with the tactless decision to conflate psychotic symptoms with demonic possession, but I think we can agree they probably didn’t mean it that way, and even if it could have been thought through better...everyone’s mileage on that varies. But the biggest flaw that kept me from really engaging with that storyline was the utter unbelievability of the surrounding worldbuilding.

The fact there is absolutely no established procedure for medical evaluation or burnout in the field is just totally unbelievable. The fact that Alec isn’t required to order a medical evalution of Jace to continue field work, or even has any sort of health-related support or a medic to consult with is totally ridiculous. We’ve been told they have medics--Victor Aldertree was one before taking up a position as resident asshole--so where the fuck are they? The Clave is a military organization, there’s no way they don’t have some sort of health infrastructure to provide Alec support in figuring out what’s wrong with Jace.

If Alec had come to Jace in the same scene and asked if he’d be willing to see to a medic for his sleep problems or whatnot (and Jace refused, saying that Alec thinks he’s “crazy” and unfit for duty despite the fact he’s been giving things his all) that would make much more sense. But as it stands it just seems like the Clave’s policy is to have absolutely no health (let alone mental health lmao) support and like. That’s just incredibly stupid. They fight with swords. They’re going to get injured. So much of this show is just free-floating (often contradictory) facts in a total lack of coherent worldbuilding, and for me it’s starting to pile up and detract from my ability to emotionally engage with the action.

A lot of the dialogue was very clumsy in this episode--good ideas, but very poor execution. So much telling rather than showing, often with little tweaks that could have made it so much better. Like, if instead of saying “My love for Clary overcame your possession” Jace could have said that Clary helped him believe in the good in himself and he knew he’s not who her visions said he was. That is, in effect, the same statement, but the second is much more emotionally impactful--he’s not just saying they’re in love, it’s demonstrating a facet of that love and that bond and how it pulled him out of her possession.

Also, another thing that’s been bothering me since....well, ever, is that Clary more than anyone else is written so inhumanly and robotically. And it’s becoming more obvious. Alec gets  to go home to Magnus and talk about how being unable to help Jace is impacting him, how he was scared when their rune faded and how he’s frustrated his attempts seem to be pushing Jace further away, but Clary can’t even express mild distress or even pretend that she’s fine when someone asks. Killing Valentine, watching Jace die, knowing that she’s going to be thrown into prison for life if anyone finds out what she’s done--none of that weighs on her or even seems to be in her mind at all. She’s a cardboard cutout, writing wise, and in light of the complexity they’re at least trying to lend Jace, the disservice done her character really shows. Even when she claims she’s willing to brave the Guard to keep Jace safe, the dialogue is so wooden it just rings false, like she doesn’t even know what she’s saying or hasn’t even thought about it, there’s no gravity to her situation--her situation and her perspective isn’t even considered. So instead of speaking to the ferocity of her determination to keep the person she loves safe and the importance and depth of that connection between them, it rings as glib and trite.

The show really struggles to establish gravitas, despite taking itself much too seriously. Part of that is down to the ludicrious pacing--am I supposed to believe a war takes place in a few weeks at most?--but a lot of it is just due to the inability establish the situation and the characters in relation to it, and the extreme self-awareness established by pandering to the fandom’s every whim. In the moments that the show bucks expectation and utilizes its enormous cast to creatively explore how very different characters would interact, it shines.

On the things I enjoyed: I really enjoyed Jordan Kyle so far, I’m hoping they’ll manage to flip expectations regarding how his arc goes down in the books. A personal preference would be finding a non-romantic resolution to the animosity between him and Maia. I enjoyed the conversation between Maia and Luke--I’ve enjoyed him in his leadership position so far, as it seems more realistic than their usual fare. If they don’t wuss out and do actually give Maryse consequences, that realism will really enrich the show and heighten the emotional stakes, even if her punishment isn’t entirely deserved.

Raphael...I don’t really think they’ve coherently linked his emotional states to what he’s doing with Heidi, and while I like that they’ve fleshed her out more from a Empty Blonde Bitch(TM) in the books to someone who sees no reason to function by social rules because they’ve done nothing but let her down and hurt her. The song playing while she fucks around with Simon’s stuff was a fantastic touch. The actress who plays her is wildly overdirected and it’s driving me insane, but it...could be worse.

Izzy still doesn’t have a coherent arc, and to be honest I did find her assertion that most of her relationships were about sex and with Raphael it was better because he didn’t want sex--I felt that was a bit. Unfortunate in its implications. I’m willing to shut up and wait it out but...that’s all I’ve done with her since S1 and I’m getting tired of it. I did love Lilith and I hope they can keep it up with her even though. Her dialogue this episode was also pretty painful. She dictates her plans to the screen and...it’s very cartoonish and so. much. telling. not showing.

Anyway overall this episode....tried to do a lot of things and for me most of them fell sort of flat, mostly due to some really unfortunate writing choices but also mostly due to a really fundamental failing of worldbuilding and characterization. I’m hoping 3B will at least give them a chance to flesh Clary out a bit more emotionally, but considering they’ve had all of season 2 to start I...don’t see that happening. I’m fine with having a few episodes I loved less than others, but unfortunately for me these flaws are sort of fundamental and won’t really be fixed, and will probably continue to impact how much I enjoy a lot of what they do. While there are islets of stuff I really enjoyed, the show’s huge cast and enormous ambitions make it almost impossible to put together coherent thoughts with so many arcs and threads hanging loose with little integration. I’m willing to hold out judgement until we’ve seen more of the resolution of the stuff they’re starting, but often with this show I find they do more starting plot threads than actually keeping them up or resolving them meaningfully so....yeah. More creative problemsolving for their plot thread integration is direly needed.

tl;dr: there was no crispy in this episode and some idiot (me) won’t shut the fuck up

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Shadowhunters Season 2 Episode 15 -- A Problem of Memory -- Review/Discussion

I’m back again with another Shadowhunters review. I feel really bad about being so late on these. I’m not getting a whole lot of inspiration with these episodes lately. But oh well. This time we have Shadowhunters Season 2 Episode 15 – A Problem of Memory. I found myself very satisfied with this episode. By no means would I say that I liked it. But I was satisfied with it.

This is going to be an honest review of my thoughts and feelings regarding this episode. If you’re the kind of Shadowhunters fan where you only want to hear positive things about the show, this is not the place for you. If you decide to stick around and get offended by what is said, then that’s on you. I warned you. Just know that if you send me any rude comments or messages, I will 100% ignore you. I find that’s the best way to deal with bullies. I work 14 hour days. Do you really think I want to waste my incredibly valuable free time dealing with derogatory comments? Hell no. This review will consist of my honest opinions. Opinions are never right or wrong. I’m not telling you how to think and feel. So please, let’s discuss with dignity and respect. If I’m critical about the show, it’s only because I want it to get better. There is, in fact, a difference between hating a show and being critical of it. I do not hate Shadowhunters; I am being critical and analyzing the flaws as I would with any other show. There are positives but there are also negatives. It’s great if you want to promote positivity with this show (and I encourage you to do so) but that doesn’t mean you should acknowledge the things that are legitimately wrong with it. Also, keep in mind that despite the fact that I do love the books, me being critical of this show has nothing to do with my love of the books. I don’t really care if the show deviates from the source material as long as it’s good and it makes sense. My problems with this show are problems that I would have with any show or book for that matter. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to take issue with a show that has plot holes, shoddy world-building and inconsistent characters. There will be spoilers for the books and movies.

Alright, so ultimately, I was pretty satisfied with this episode. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I liked it but it was moderately entertaining. There were stretches within the episode where I was legitimately bored, though. I watched this episode on Tuesday after it aired, which was my birthday, and I was far more interested in the game of Scrabble I was playing with my friends. I play a mean Scrabble, btw. Obviously, I didn’t feel too strongly about this episode considering how late I am in writing this. I feel like this has been happening a lot with 2B. The episodes have been leaving me with a general feeling of apathy. The episodes are satisfying but they’re also not dragging me into the story which is a very disconcerting feeling for me. Supernatural/fantasy type shows are my catnip. I typically love these kinds of shows and I want them to last for a good amount of time. I am sad that The Vampire Diaries has finished. I am sad that we’re almost done with Teen Wolf. The Originals is always one foot away from the chopping block (although I am hoping it sticks around for a little while longer so that Klaroline has a chance to grace my screen again). Pretty soon, I’m not going to have that many more fantasy type shows for me to cling on to. I guess we’ll always have Supernatural, though that is one fantasy show I wish would end. It has gone on for far too long in my opinion.

More Love Triangle BS

So we got the love triangle stuff with Jace/Clary/Simon still going on. This was kind of where my boredom was starting to surface within this episode. I don’t think there’s a word in the English vocabulary that epitomizes how much I don’t care about this love triangle. I barely tolerated it in the books and in the show, it’s completely insufferable. The only saving grace this plot point has is that it’s finally going to push Simon into some plot arcs that don’t center around Clary for once. At least I hope so. Simon, throughout his character arc, has always been following Clary’s plots around like a lost puppy and I’m interested in seeing where the story is going to take him now. Speaking of which, I got a little excited in this episode when Simon finally blows up at Clary. That was great. I think I enjoy it a little too much whenever people do yell at Clary. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I get super happy. It’s like a drug for me. And I’m sorry to you Show Clary fans who adore her but I cannot stand her. Any scene that she’s in, I want to skip past. I just do not care about her at all. Which really shouldn’t be happening with a main character but what can you do? And I actually recently had an epiphany on why I don’t really like Clary. And it’s not for any of the shallow reasons that some people dislike about her i.e. her always needing to be saved. It’s nothing like that. I’m actually in the process of writing a post about my dislike of her character in the show. So if you follow me, you’ll have that to look forward to. But anyways, I’m not a fan on how the show is doing this love triangle. I think it was a mistake to portray Climon as this great epic love. By the show doing this, they wrote themselves into a corner because now there’s really no way to finish out this love triangle story without it turning into a cliché teenage melodrama. I was a fan of Simon in this episode. He treated Clary exactly how I wanted him to. Clary is being her typical selfish self by blaming everyone but herself. I have no sympathy for her. I did see this one post where the blogger had talked about Simon being overly dramatic and that he doesn’t really have a right to be angry with Clary. Clary didn’t ask for Simon to be in love with her and all that jazz. Now, that kind of talk I would find acceptable with Book Clary and Simon. Book Clary was fairly obvious about her feelings being different from the feelings Simon had. However, this argument doesn’t work as well in the show. Because Clary had given no indication whatsoever that she wasn’t all in for Simon. In fact, she was telling Simon the exact opposite. Jace revealed they weren’t really siblings and she straight up didn’t care. She even reassured Simon that she wanted to be with him (Simon). That is straight up leading him on even if it may have been slightly unintentional. But anyways, Clary was trying her hardest to get Simon to take her back and forget what all had happened but Simon’s not having it. I don’t know why she thought that would work. Clary is trying so hard to preserve this relationship but she’s not stopping to think and ask, “What does Simon want? What does Simon deserve?” He deserves to be with someone who loves him as much as he once loved Clary. I really like what Simon says to Clary when Clary tells him she loves him. “Stop! Don’t say that because you don’t mean it like I mean it.” I’m glad that Simon is showing Clary that she needs to hold herself accountable for her actions (something she never does in the show) and that not everything can be so easily forgiven. I’m glad the show is finally starting to do this with Clary’s character. One of my biggest gripes with the show is how willing the show is to forgive Clary for everything and no one ever holds her accountable for anything. I hope the show tries to do more with that.

Simon had his own plot arc going on in this episode which I kind of enjoyed. I did have a couple of issues with it, though. First issue was that it’s such a predictable plot. I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve seen where I’ve seen this plot point used. Never for a second did I actually believe Simon killed that girl. Why was I so sure? Because despite Freeform’s best efforts in making this show “edgy and racy,” they can’t help but to play it safe. Freeform is too afraid to go into something really dark like actually having Simon accidentally kill someone while he was under this blood-induced euphoric state. I think that would’ve been a really interesting direction to take his character. It would’ve been interesting to see how he dealt with that issue. I really wanted them to do it but ultimately, they fell back on bad habits. I know, Simon killed that vampire who framed him but that’s hardly the same thing. The emotional response we could’ve gotten from Simon would’ve been so much stronger if he had accidentally killed an innocent girl who put her trust in his ability to control himself as opposed to killing someone out of self defense. Disappointing but what can you do? I could write a book on all of the missed potential this show had with its plot arcs. I am a little upset that the show seems to be kind of writing off Izzy’s addiction too. They’re just saying she’s going to meetings to help with her addiction issues but we haven’t seen anything that shows she’s really struggling or anything that shows where she’s currently at in the recovery process. Which brings me to my second issue. When the vampire brings Simon to that club to feed on willing humans, I had a hard time believing that Simon would actually want to do this. Particularly since he knows about Izzy. It probably would have worked better if Simon hadn't known about Izzy’s problem and was just finding out that it’s possible for people to become addicted to vampire venom. But the fact that he knew about Izzy’s struggles and yet he was so willing to give this a try didn’t really sit well with me. I guess he was already intoxicated from that plasma shot he had maybe. I don’t know. It also confused me on why he didn’t realize that these kinds of dens may exist after Izzy confessed to him that she’s addicted to vampire venom. Did he never question where she was getting her fix? Obviously, she never went to one of these dens but Simon doesn’t know about her relationship with Raphael. And on the other side of things in 2A, why did Izzy risk being killed by Blondie Vamp when she could’ve easily gone to one of these dens? Ugh, so many plot holes once you start actually thinking.

But ultimately, I could get behind this plot point because it’s finally showing Simon trying to find his own way in the Shadow World instead of clinging on to Clary. It’s about him trying to figure out who he is and where he belongs in the Shadow World. He has ties to the mundane world, the shadowhunter world, and the downworld but yet doesn’t fit in completely with any of them. I’m really excited to see where this story is going to take him. This plot definitely had its flaws but the idea of the plot is what sold it for me. But that’s Shadowhunters for you. They always have really great ideas; it’s the execution that’s the problem.

Luke’s partner was also featured pretty heavily in this plot point too and I wish they would just drop this character. I don’t know what’s going on with her and what part she’s actually going to play but she’s completely unnecessary. This show has waaaaaaaaay more characters than they know what to do with. I really hope this show gets to the point of her as a character soon because she absolutely bores me whenever she’s on screen.

Aline Is Here

Aline has also made her debut into the tv show. I’ll be honest. In the books, I never really understood the fandom’s fondness for Aline. She’s not a bad character or anything. I don’t hate her, I just don’t care about her. We don’t spend a whole lot of time with her in the books and she never left me with any sort of impression. She was there and she and Helen are kind of cute, I guess, but again the books never spent a lot of time with developing Aline and Helen. So when people were badgering the showrunners about when Aline is going to show up, I really didn’t care. She showed up in this episode and I liked her scenes but ultimately, I still didn’t really care. I’m interested to see her in future episodes. The dynamic that she appears to have with the real Sebastian Verlac was nice to see. I’m definitely interested to see how Helen is going to pop up in this show and what the show does with her and Aline. Aline and Izzy also had a really nice relationship. I was beginning to wonder if Izzy was friends with anyone besides Clary. She doesn’t seem to socialize with any of the other shadowhunters at the Institute. Seriously, did Izzy have any friends before Clary showed up? But I’m always happy to see positive female relationships. I know this fandom has a pretty big Romantic Clizzy fanbase but I hope the show doesn’t go there. And before anyone jumps down my throat, no, it’s not because I’m bigoted and I don’t want to see a lesbian couple. Obviously, I don’t feel that way since Malec is one of my ultimate OTPs. TV these days really needs more supportive female friendships and that’s what I like about Clizzy. That’s what I liked about Aline and Izzy. And I want to see the show continuing on with that. Not all chemistry is romantic, guys. Sometimes there’s chemistry that works better as friends. And not all chemistry should be romantic.

We also had Will Tudor being his usual awesome self. This time he was playing both the real Sebastian and Jonathon. The talent this guy has, he has far too much talent for this show. Every scene he’s in, he outshines everyone else. Which is what makes the reveal at the end of the episode a little saddening. Jonathon finds a way to spring Valentine from the Clave and when Valentine is brought before him, Jonathon reveals his true self a la shapeshifting rune – a burnt, walking talking corpse, apparently. I really hate that rune. When I saw that reveal at the end of the episode, though, I burst out laughing. I think the last time I laughed so hard in this show was back in 2A when Jocelyn showed Clary the vision of Jonathon as the demon child where he made a flower wilt. I laughed pretty hard in that scene and laughed a lot in this scene. It’s just such a Disney thing to do. Of course, the villain would turn out to be this burned corpse because you can’t be attractive and evil at the same time. I can’t say I’m surprised though. Freeform is owned by Disney. Again, like I said before, it’s a very safe way to go about the series. Now, before anyone tries to claw my eyes out or anything, my problems with the reveal have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the fact that this is different from the books. That’s not my issue. I just think Jonathon being this attractive character but gets so progressively evil that his soul kind of warps into that of a demon’s is a much more interesting theme to explore than having him be this burnt up corpse. There is evil in beauty. That and it means Will Tudor as Jonathan has a time limit which is sad. He’s so fantastic as an actor that I literally could watch a 40 minute episode of Shadowhunters with it just being Jonathon formulating his evil plans. I’m sure Shadowhunters has a plan on where they’re going to go with this burnt corpse idea. I just hope it’s not going to be cliché Disney villain plot point. I’m sure this plot point was also taken so they could better explain why no one is noticing that Sebastian Verlac is not the real Sebastian Verlac. The Season 1 writers really wrote themselves into a corner when they made shadowhunters compatible with technology. The current writers really had no choice but to use the rune in this instance.

Malec This Episode

So Malec was pretty great this episode. We actually got scenes that lasted for more than thirty seconds this time around. Alec can tell that something is wrong with Magnus but Magnus is refusing to open up to Alec. Magnus is having problems dealing with his mother’s death and the repercussions of this death but he’s refusing to open up to Alec about this until Alec finally convinces him to talk about it. An excellent use of throwing Magnus’ words back at him. Magnus once told Alec that when things get tough, to not push him away. And here, Alec tells him the same thing. I was glad to hear it. Magnus comes clean that when he was tortured with the “agony” rune (I still can’t say that with a straight face – it makes no sense for why such a rune would exist) he was forced to relive the memory of him finding his mother after she committed suicide and his father lashing out at Magnus about it. Magnus uses his magic to kill his stepfather and admits to Alec that he had full control of his powers back then; he wanted to kill his stepfather. Magnus tells Alec that he wanted to keep this from Alec because he didn’t want Alec so see this “ugly” side of him. In which Alec responds with understanding. “There’s nothing ugly about you.” Alec accepts him for exactly how he is. He doesn’t have any kind of romaticization about Magnus. He intends to find out about the darker parts of Magnus. He doesn’t just want to be with the light parts. It was a really great moment for Malec.

Now, I am a little torn on how I feel about the show changing Magnus’ past with his mother and stepfather. But after going back and forth on it, I don’t think my problem is that I liked the story in the book better  as much as that I felt the show could’ve spent a little more time on this flashback. We didn’t get to see a whole lot of Magnus’s stepfather and we certainly didn’t get to see what exactly the man was saying to Magnus. The tone wasn’t really working.  In this instance, tone is everything and I don’t think the show got the tone right. The flashback could’ve been really great but the show did the bare minimum and in doing so, messed up the tone a little. Now, I have heard people say that they think the scene in the books is a little overdramatic in the sense that Magnus’ mother hangs herself out of shame in finding out she had laid with a demon and the stepfather trying to drown Magnus. I disagree on that assessment. Magnus was born in a time where if you were different, you were seen as evil. Anything that was different was seen as the devil’s work. So it would make sense that Magnus’ mother killing herself over finding out what her son was and his stepfather trying to drown him makes sense in context. I am a little sad the show didn’t go with this story but I understand the story the show is trying to tell. It works in its own way. The story in the books wouldn’t have worked as well with the theme they were trying to implement here. Like I said, it works, I just wish we had gotten a little more in the development of this flashback.

I also saw a few posts where a blogger was talking about how rigid Alec looks in the Malec scenes. That he doesn’t really look comfortable. He very much had a military like stance when dealing with Magnus in this episode. I think this was more of an acting decision. For me, Alec is feeling insecure about their relationship. Magnus is refusing to open up and it’s making Alec a little uncomfortable. So I was fine with the rigidity he might’ve been having these past couple of episodes. It makes sense based on what Alec is feeling.

I would probably give this episode a B. I definitely felt it was better than the previous ones. As always, there are still things the show can improve on. For one, executing their ideas better. As I’ve said many times, the writers have a lot of good ideas, the execution is what makes them fall a little weird sometimes. I also can’t help but feel like the writers may be writing with their dominant hand being tied behind their back. I mentioned it earlier in this review but I’ve been starting to realize that the writing in this show has been very “safe.” The show scaled back on the incest plot because it was controversial. We’re never really sure what the show is trying to do with Malec as a couple because the show doesn’t feel comfortable with how much they can get away with in that relationship. They went for the obvious plot point of Simon being framed for a murder instead of going dark and having Simon kill someone while in his drugged state. They’re certainly scaling back on seeing us watch Izzy with her recovery probably because that’s controversial as well. In the 2A finale, they had all of the main downworlders in one spot but yet none of them were harmed by what happened in the finale. They all conveniently were able to escape from the massacre. They did kill Jocelyn but Jocelyn was also a character a majority of the fanbase didn’t care about so her death was an “eh, whatever” thing. One of these days, I would really like to see the show just go for it. They’re trying to be dark and racy but at the same time they’re still afraid to. They don’t know how much they can get away with and I look forward to the day when they throw caution to the wind and just go all out. We don’t live in a pretty world and the shadow world certainly is not a pretty world to live in. It is dangerous, these people lead dangerous lives and it would be nice to see just how cruel and unforgiving this world can get.

That’s about all I have for you guys. Again, sorry I’m late. But better late than never. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the show. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Do you agree or disagree? As always, be respectful of mine and everyone else’s opinions.

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Shadowhunters Season 2 Episode 12 -- You Are Not Your Own -- Review/Discussion

This week, we got Shadowhunters Season 2 Episode 12, You Are Not Your Own. I think I liked this episode. I’m not really all that sure. This episode felt about on par with the previous episode. It’s a decently structured episode of Shadowhunters but overall, it didn’t leave me with much of an impression. I enjoyed myself while watching the episode but yet it left me with no desire to watch it again. I did watch it again, simply because that’s what I do when I review things. I always watch what I’m reviewing two or three times to make sure I caught and understood everything I want to talk about.

This is going to be an honest review of my thoughts and feelings regarding this episode. If you’re the kind of Shadowhunters fan where you only want to hear positive things about the show, this is not the place for you. If you decide to stick around and get offended by what is said, then that’s on you. I warned you. Just know that if you send me any rude comments or messages, I will 100% ignore you. I find that’s the best way to deal with bullies. I work 14 hour days. Do you really think I want to waste my incredibly valuable free time dealing with derogatory comments? Hell no. This review will consist of my honest opinions. Opinions are never right or wrong. I’m not telling you how to think and feel. I’m telling you what I think and feel. So please, let’s discuss with dignity and respect. If I’m critical about the show, it’s only because I want it to get better. There is, in fact, a difference between hating a show and being critical of it. I do not hate Shadowhunters; I am being critical and analyzing the flaws as I would with any other show. There are positives but there are also negatives. It’s great if you want to promote positivity with this show (and I encourage you to do so) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t acknowledge the things that are legitimately wrong with it. Also, keep in mind that despite the fact that I do love the books, me being critical of this show has nothing to do with my love of the books. I don’t really care if the show deviates from the source material as long as it’s good and it makes sense. My problems with this show are problems that I would have with any show or book for that matter. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to take issue with a show that has plot holes, shoddy world-building, and inconsistent characters. There will be spoilers for the show and spoilers for the books and movie.

I’m really sorry about this being so late but man, did I have a hard time writing this one. I’m really not sure where the brunt of my problems lie with this episode. I feel like this is an episode I probably should’ve liked a lot but at the end of the day, I just didn’t care. Which is weird because it had a lot of plot points that ordinarily, I would be all for. Ultimately, I think the biggest issues with this episode was the execution of these ideas. Pretty much, all of the plot points fell a little flat. You have that mixed in with cheesy and nonsensical dialogue, then I guess it’s no real surprise that this episode didn’t really captivate me. It was fun watching the plot unfold but nothing really resonated with me and made me hope the episode would just go on and on. When the episode ended, I was good. I was ready to turn off the tv and I’m not really counting down the days until the next episode airs. 

Magnus/Valentine Switch-A-Roo 

Now, this is a plot point that I actually kind of like in its idea form. And it was fairly well executed in the show. I thought Alan and Harry did a very good job with switching characters. I had absolutely no trouble believing that Magnus was no longer Magnus and Valentine was no longer Valentine. Although, I do find it odd that after Magnus-In-Valentine’s body tells Alec that he’s really Magnus and Alec isn’t alarmed by Valentine-in-Magnus’ body’s actions. He doesn’t really think, “Hey, Valentine just told me that he’s really Magnus and when I went to see Magnus, he was behaving oddly. Maybe I should look into this more.” Oh well, this show thrives on idiot plots. It would be inconvenient for the plot for Alec to show common sense in this moment despite that he’s been shown numerous times to have the most common snese of everyone on Team Good. I do hope they put out a “behind the scenes” feature with Harry and Alan talking about what it was like to switch characters. Both of them did a pretty amazing job. I really enjoyed those scenes. I had very small issues with this plot as a whole (my problems lie more with the use of Azazel than anything else) and I’m very excited to see where the trauma that Magnus suffered at the hands of the Clave takes his character. That being said, this was a really interesting development for Magnus’ character but I am worried that this plot point is going to be dropped or lose its relevancy as so many subplots in this show often are. I also kind of wish the switch lasted maybe another episode. Everything just felt incredibly rushed in this plot. But that’s how this show is. Everything is always done at warp speed and I feel like this show in its plot form could be a much better show if it just slowed down. Let the characters tell the story instead of forcing the characters to do things.

Alec Being a Badass – Thank You for this Scene

Yay for Alec for sending Azazel back to hell; that was great. I am so happy that Alec was the one to take down Azazel. He never gets to do anything cool or shadowhuntery-badass in this show. It’s always The Clary Show which is really irritating because it makes no sense why she’s a better shadowhunter then everyone else who have been training THEIR ENTIRE LIVES! She’s been a shadowhunter for at most, a month and she can swing swords and fighting staffs around like the best of them. And even bests some of the other shadowhunters, at times. Why? I don’t know. It’s so dumb. But I digress. I know I’ve made no secret about my distaste for Clary on this show but I can’t help it. She’s such a badly written character with no forethought to her development that I can’t not comment on it. Sorry to those of you who adore Clary on the show but it’s my opinion and I won’t apologize for it. If you really want to understand my dislike for the show’s version of Clary, go and hit up my ask box and I’ll go in depth about it. And don’t worry, my reasons for disliking her don’t have a whole lot to do with her constantly crying. It’s nothing shallow and dumb like that. But anyways, Alec banishing Azazel was a really badass moment for Alec. Unfortunately, the actual banishing of Azazel was not. Make no mistake, I’m glad that Alec was the one to take care of Azazel but MY GOD, was that scene dumb. The special effect of Alec flying back in the air and shooting Azazel was really bad. I don’t know where the bow and arrow came from other than the magical world of bad holographic CGI nor do I understand the need for a poorly executed Matrix move in that scene. I also don’t understand why if Azazel has this weakness, why he didn’t do anything to protect it? He’s been playing the game pretty hard trying to get the Mortal Cup so the shadowhunters can’t use it to send him back to hell but he has this other way to be sent to hell that he doesn’t even consider protecting? Like I said in my previous review, this guy is so dumb and the writing of him is so dumb. I guess you can chalk it up to him being cocky. He thinks he’s so awesome that he doesn’t even consider that a shadowhunter might be able to hit his core. But still. He’s been trapped in hell for a really long time. You think he would have erred on the side of caution after just escaping from hell. Not to mention, who released this guy from hell anyway? What exactly was their purpose in releasing him? Maybe it was Sebastian/Jonathon. Really, this entire Azazel plot was really dumb, didn’t accomplish a whole lot, ended very anti-climactically, and I’m glad he’s gone. The only purpose Azazel served was to body-swap Magnus and Valentine and once he did that, he was pretty much useless to the plot and unrealistically easily taken care of. I’m not entirely certain how relevant this body swap thing is going to be to the rest of the plot for this season. Knowing this show, they’ll probably drop it. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about that Alec killing Azazel was so wonderful because he was protecting his one true love. Which okay, fine. He did that but by you saying that, you’re also implying that Alec wouldn’t banish a Prince of Hell for just anyone. Alec cares about everyone. He may not like everyone but he does care about them if they’re a genuinely good person. If he was face-to-face with a Prince of Hell, he’d do what he could to kill the creature to protect just about anyone that falls into that category. And really, Alec banishing Azazel happened so quickly that it came off more like self-defense than an actual act of protecting his boyfriend. Alec was there, then Azazel was there, Azazel pushed Alec through the air and then Alec shot him. The show has been toting around that Alec is going to have this really great heroic moment and all I can say is that I feel a little unsatisfied with it? It was anticlimactic and it didn’t really feel real. I’m kind of expecting Azazel to just pop back up and be all, “Just kidding, bitches. As if you could get rid of me.” Not likely but whatever. With this show, if you’re not part of the main cast, then you’re going to go down pretty easily. That’s just the way it is. I find it very difficult to believe that it’s this easy to take care of a Prince of Hell, though. Or that Magnus would be able to duplicate the kind of magic a Prince of Hell used to swap their bodies to begin with. Think about it, in the previous episode, Magnus was incapable of trapping Azazel in a pentagram but here, he’s able to use a spell that would counteract a curse that very same Prince of Hell put on him?

I don’t know. Maybe my distaste for the whole Azazel plot stems from the fact that the Azazel plot from City of Lost Souls is absolutely hilarious. Team Good summons Azazel to get some information and Azazel is just chilling in this pentagram in Magnus’ living room for a couple of days (and they never lose control of him because Magnus Bane is a badass; something this show chooses to forget whenever it’s not convenient for the plot). They eventually banish Azazel back to hell because he’s just annoying the shit out of them. It’s a fun little sequence of scenes that really takes the edge off in a pretty serious book.

With that said though, I’m pretty sure I dislike the show’s Azazel plot because it serves as nothing more than a plot device for a character plot point that’s going to either be dropped or lose its relevancy halfway through. That, and there’s huge gaps of logic in this plot to begin with. Azazel is a Prince of Hell. He should’ve stuck around for at least a few more episodes. 

Will Tudor as Sebastian/Jonathon – He is too good for this show 

You know, I never really noticed how badly I needed a Sebastian/Jonathon adaptation until I got one. I always cared about Sebastian/Jonathon as a villain in the books but I never really imagined what a movie or tv show adaptation of him would be like. And I am so glad that our first adaptation of him was Will Tudor because OMG, he blew this role out of the park in this episode. Honestly, Will Tudor might be a little too talented for this show. I’m kind of afraid the other actors aren’t going to be able to keep up. Whatever scene he’s in, he just takes complete control. I’m completely engrossed in whatever scene he’s in. It’s amazing. The only other actor on this show that I get like that with is Alan Van Sprang. And OMG, if we get a scene with those two acting opposite of each other, that is going to be a bad ass scene and I’m probably going to spend half of a review raving about it. Please, Shadowhunters, do it. That is something I have to see before this show ends. In the books, we never got a scene with Sebastian/Jonathon and Valentine together but I really hope the show does one. I feel a little bad Will Tudor’s stuck with this show, though. He’s going to have to utilize his significant acting talents on a show that has a history of sub-par plotting. Just that scene where he was trying to convince Clary to really feel about what it would mean to acknowledge that Jace is not her brother was so powerful to watch. It wasn’t really all that well-written but I started tearing up a little and it wasn’t because I was feeling for Clary. It was because I was feeling for Sebastian/Jonathon. He was projecting his feelings of loneliness onto Clary’s situation and the resentment and animosity that we saw in his face and in his tone of voice…damn, it was good. He’s trying to get Clary to acknowledge her own feelings of loneliness. Her mother is dead. Her brother isn’t really her brother. Her father doesn’t care about her. She has no family. She’s truly alone. Just the way he was presenting these issues made you realize that he was able to get through to Clary because he feels these exact same things and when the reveal comes out about who this guy really is….it is going to be so damn good. I might even be able to forgive this show for all of their mishaps, Season 1 included. 

Rant Time – This Show’s Use of Magic 

Okay, so now that I’ve finished fangirling over the awesomeness that is Will Tudor, it’s time for a little rant. I loved that scene between Sebastian/Jonathon and Clary. It was the highlight of the episode for me. I must’ve re-watched that scene four or five times. However, it’s revealed in this scene that the reason Clary couldn’t use her sunlight rune against Azazel was because she had a mind block due to her not really feeling everything she should. Ironic considering this is what she yelled at Jace for in Mea Maxima Culpa. What I had originally liked about Clary not being able to use her rune against Azazel was that it was finally showing that there are limitations to her runes. I was so happy to see the show finally develop the idea that there are limitations to magic in this world and You Are Not Your Own just trampled all over that idea. I didn’t like that the only reason Clary’s rune didn’t work against Azazel was because of her emotional state. That if Jace hadn’t told her about the sibling thing, she would’ve been able to destroy Azazel. How about the fact that AZAZEL IS A PRINCE OF HELL. Maybe for Clary’s runes to work against certain demons she needs to, heaven forbid, practice and get stronger and thus her runes become stronger. Maybe she couldn’t destroy Azazel because she wasn’t strong enough and by default, neither were her runes. This is something that irks me about this show’s use of magic. Magic in this show has no limitations. It has no rules. You can do just about anything with magic and it’s irritating. If your world’s magic system has no rules, no limitations, what makes it compelling? Where is the danger? The risk? In most magic systems, there’s always a consequence for using magic. You can’t create something out of nothing. It has to come from somewhere and you can apply this logic to Clary’s runes. She can draw these runes that no one else knows because she has this extra angel blood in her, however, the runes have to get their strength from somewhere. They can’t just pull it out of thin air. The strength of the runes would depend completely on Clary’s own strength at the time they were drawn. So it would stand to reason that a rune would fail against a Prince of Hell because she wasn’t strong enough to face a Prince of Hell. I hate how this show uses magic as a plot device and nothing more where magic should really be seen as its own character in this show with its own personality.

The Herondale Reveal

We finally find out who Jace really is. I find it weird that after Valentine confessed to Jace not really being his son that Jace never actually questioned who his real parents were; he had to come from somewhere, but whatever. It was interesting how they did this reveal but again, it was kind of anticlimactic. When it happened, I was just like, “Oh, really? We’re revealing this now? Okay.” I was kind of apathetic. It didn’t really have that much of a wow factor. It was interesting in the sense of the role reversal. In the books, the Inqusitor, thinking that Jace is Valentine’s son, uses Jace as a hostage against Valentine with Jace remarking that Valentine doesn’t care about him. It was opposite in the show. Valentine uses Jace as a hostage against the Inquisitor with Jace remarking that the Inquisitor doesn’t care about him. Then Valentine reveals that the Inquisitor will care when she finds out that Jace is actually her grandson. It was an alright reveal but it didn’t really pack a whole lot of emotional punch. Jace being revealed to being a Herondale is kind of a big deal and in this scene it just felt a little, “oh, whatever.” It might’ve helped out a little bit if we had been introduced to the Herondale name a little more before this episode. As it stands, the Herondales just come off as this random family that Jace is now a part of despite the show stating that the Herondales are this great royal bloodline. And the show stating the Herondales to be royalty is a whole other weird thing. I really don’t understand this shadowhunter royalty hierarchy. I was so hoping the show was going to drop this angle on the shadowhunter bloodlines because they haven’t mentioned it since Season 1 but now it’s back. Ugh. My problem is not that they’re introducing something new that isn’t in the books. That’s not the issue. My issue is that they haven’t done anything to establish these royal bloodlines. Which of the shadowhunters bloodlines are royal and why are they royal? I don’t think this is like Vampire Academy where the different families take turns as the ruling government. It certainly hasn’t been set up like that. The Inquisitor didn’t become the Inquisitor because she’s a Herondale. She became the Inquisitor because she moved through the ranks of the Clave government (supposedly). It’s hard to tell what’s actually canon in this show. What about the Herondales makes them more special and more royal than the other shadowhunter bloodlines? Why do I need to care about the Herondales? I mean, I know why I should care about the Herondales. I’ve read The Infernal Devices. I’m a little in love with Will Herondale, myself. If you recite poems and books back to me, I’m going to fall in love with you. That’s just how it is. But if you’re watching this show without prior knowledge of the books, I’m sure those fans are a little confused on why they should care about the Herondales and why it’s a big deal that Jace is related to them. As always, this show has an interesting idea but the execution just falls flat. How you reveal something is just as important as the actual reveal.

Sizzy Is Starting to Happen – I’ll Try to Contain Myself

OMG! The show is starting to work on Sizzy and I’m so happy. They are one of my favorite OTPs of all time. They are going to be so great on this show. Or at least I hope they will be. I’ve been burned by this show before so I’ll try and temper my excitement. But yeah, there were some really nice Sizzy character moments in this episode. I really liked that straight off in the beginning, Izzy is with Simon and she can’t help but come clean to him about her vampire venom addiction. She just felt so at ease with him in that moment and it was really great that Simon didn’t judge her at all for it. He was very understanding because he has a mother that also suffers with addiction and Simon seems to genuinely want to help with getting Izzy the help to fight this. I often wondered why they had so many lines this season alluding to Simon’s mother being an alcoholic and now I think it was for this purpose. To set up Simon being able to truly help Izzy in a way that Alec can’t. As great as it is that Alec wants to be there for his sister and to help her out through this, he also can’t really understand what she’s going through. Whereas Simon really can’t either; he’s not an addict, but he does have experience helping someone through their addiction and I think that’s going to play a big role in the development of Sizzy. I’m super excited to see it.

I also feel compelled to defend Izzy a little in this episode. I have seen a lot of reviews that talk about how they don’t like what this drug addiction is doing to Izzy’s character. They want the bad-ass Izzy from Season 1 back. And I will admit, that Izzy was cool and she was bad-ass. But she was also one-dimensional and I never really felt connected to her as a character. And a little bit of a Mary Sue, herself. What I like about this drug addiction plot point is that we’re exploring a bit more of her character. For better or for worse. Characters need to experience hardships in order to grow. That’s what makes us care about them. You don’t like this drug addiction plot because of what it’s doing to Izzy, fine. Guess what? You’re not actually supposed to enjoy her becoming a drug addict. That’s not the point. What I like that this arc is doing is it’s starting to peel back the layers of Izzy. We’re finding that despite how bad-ass we perceive her to be, she doesn’t feel like she is. Everyone around her believes that she’s the strongest and one of the best but she doesn’t believe that, herself. The vampire venom, initially makes her feel like she truly is strong. And when she finally overcomes this addiction, that’s where we’re going to see her true strength as both a shadowhunter and a person. Something that people often forget about addiction is that there is no cure for addiction. Once you’re addicted to something, a part of you is always going to crave it. You have to wake up every single day knowing you’re going to have to fight that battle. To find the will to say no. Every single day until you die. And that’s what’s in store for Izzy’s character. She’s not going to be cured of her craving for vampire venom. She’s going to find the strength to wake up every morning and say no. And that’s the character I’m excited to see and I look forward to seeing her journey to recovery. I like that we’re getting more dimensions to Izzy and that’s why I don’t think this plot point is trash. The execution of it has been a little weird at times and I refuse to call this addiction a yin fen addiction because what she’s addicted to is not yin fen – it’s vampire venom – but I do enjoy what we’re getting at the heart of this plot. Development on who Izzy is as a person, deep down. A lot of people were very quick to trash Izzy in this episode on how easily she succumbed to her addiction when face to face with the vampires and it very nearly resulted in Simon’s death. Me personally, I felt that it was very important that this scene existed. Earlier on in the episode, Simon wanted to recommend certain addiction meetings that Izzy might want to attend to help her deal with her addiction. Izzy completely shoots him down because that’s what anyone who has an addiction initially does. They don’t want to admit that they might need help and it’s very consistent with the Izzy we’ve been seeing. She’s dealing with her issues of not being strong enough so the last thing she wants to admit is that she isn’t actually strong enough to deal with this and she needs help. But in this scene, she realizes that Simon very nearly died because she was so desperate for a hit. Her addiction was hindering her ability to do her job and someone she cared about almost died as a result. She realized in that moment, that she does need help and asks Simon to refer her to one of those meetings. The first step to recovery is admitting that you do have a problem. As I’ve said, I’m very excited to see where this angle of the plot is going to go and I really hope Shadowhunters isn’t going to drop it and just have her miraculously cured. If that happens, I’m going to seriously have to question my decision to stick with this show until its cancellation. 

But I didn’t like everything about Sizzy this episode. The character moments of Izzy and Simon and Sizzy as a whole, was great. But I did not like that Izzy used Raphael’s sister as a way to get Raphael to stop bullying Simon. I also didn’t like that as uneasy as Simon was with the plan, he still opted to do it. Izzy is extremely family oriented. I don’t think it’s consistent with her character. Izzy is extremely protective of her own family so I don’t believe she would condone threatening someone’s family for something as small as a bullying issue. A plot like that may work with shows like The Vampire Diaries or The Originals because those characters are morally ambiguous to a certain extent but that’s not who the Shadowhunters characters are. Simon also shouldn’t have let Izzy talk him into it particularly since he’s been down that road with Raphael before. Raphael once threatened his mother. The character moments between Sizzy were great. I laughed so hard in that moment when Raphael’s sister told them that they looked good together…they really, really do. The actual plot in this episode revolving around Sizzy I just feel is very inconsistent with their characters. 

Here We Go With The Music Again

Come on, you guys must’ve known I was going to bring this up. I, of course, am referring to that fight-training sequence between Clary and Jace. Once again, we have an otherwise okay scene. They used a fight scene to exposit information which I approve of but they also used techno music in the background which I don’t necessarily approve of. And this scene was particularly bad. I think out of all of the fight-training sequences with techno music, this scene was the worst. Not in terms of fight choreography. The fight choreography between Jace and Clary was decent. The dialogue was okay. But this music messed with the tone so bad. It messed with the pacing. And it was entirely too loud. Who is in charge of mixing this show’s audio and what are they thinking? I don’t have a problem with this show using techno music in their fight scenes. If it’s done right, it could actually amp you up. The problem is the show isn’t doing it right. This scene was the worst of all of them, though. I had to really strain to hear what the actors were saying. The point of these scenes is to exposit information in a creative manner so they don’t exposit information while walking down a hallway but their use of techno music in these scenes defeats the purpose if we can’t hear the information the show is trying to exposit. The real tragedy is that Jace had a sass line that I couldn’t completely hear and it really took away the effect of the line. You know how I love it when TV Show Jace gets sassy. Well, the music was so loud that I could barely understand what he was being sassy about and it was a real shame.

I also noticed that a lot of people are raving about this scene because apparently, “the Clace chemistry was through the roof.” I don’t know. I wasn’t feeling it. There was something between them but I wasn’t really feeling anything romantic. It felt more like two friends working out. Maybe there’s something wrong with me but I just can’t bring myself to care about TV Show Clace. They make absolutely no sense to me as a couple. TV Show Sizzy makes sense. TV Show Malec makes sense. TV Show Climon makes sense. Even TV Show Rizzy makes sense. But TV Show Clace? I got nothing. I’m in my late 20s. I need a little more foundation than two attractive people being breathless around each other in order to call it chemistry. For me, they were breathless because they were swinging metal swords around. But whatever. TV Show Clace is just something I have to tolerate. It may never make sense to me. There are just some couples you can’t ship no matter how hard a show tries to make you ship them. And trust me, Shadowhunters with their promos are trying SO hard to make the fandom ship them. Here’s an idea, how about you spend some actual time developing why these characters care about each other instead of saying, “Ship them because the plot dictates you need to ship them.” As always, my offer still stands for anyone to explain to me why they ship them. And that’s not any sort of derogatory dig into your choice of ships. I really want to know why you ship them.

Just like with Mea Maxima Culpa, this was a perfectly decent episode. There were some nice character moments; some nice ideas for plots that just continues to fall flat. Pretty much the standard for a Shadowhunters episode. I’d probably give this episode a B-. I kind of sort of liked it. I am intrigued to find out what’s going to happen in future episodes. I just hope Shadowhunters can break their streak of being underwhelming with how they execute their plots. For the most part, their plot points are interesting ideas; the show just doesn’t commit to them.

That’s about all I have. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Just remember to be respectful of everyone’s opinions even if you don’t agree with them. never make